Naruto bent the elbow of his new automail arm. It matched the size of his original arm well, but he would really have to get use to the extra weight. He continued flexing for several seconds, then threw a punch with it. He threw a few more punches, then smirked. "I think I've got this," he said confidently.

"Care to put that to the test?" Ed asked. He, Al, and Winry had been watching Naruto exercise his new arm, and the Fullmetal Alchemist was already feeling pretty eager to spar with him.

"Hang on," Naruto said with his trademark foxlike grin. "I wanna try something really quick." He made cross-like sign with his middle and index fingers and took a deep breath. "Here goes. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

To the surprise of the three Amestrian teens, the blond was suddenly surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. They shielded their eyes from the explosion, except for Al, who didn't have anything to shield. When the smoke cleared, their eyes widened (the lights the served as Al's substitute eyes glowed brighter). Before them stood not one, but hundreds of Narutos. Ed's jaw practically slammed into the dirt.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" he shouted in complete disbelief. "WHERE DID ALL THOSE GUYS COME FROM!?"

"I made them!" the original Naruto proclaimed proudly. "It looks like my new arm was copied, too! Man, that's awesome!"

"They must be illusions," Ed stated as he went up and started poking each clone. His face slowly contorted into one of utter shock. "Th-they're s-solid…"

"B-but that's impossible," Al said, completely dumbfounded. He and Ed then stared at Naruto suspiciously. "WHERE IS IT!?" they suddenly shouted in unison.

Naruto backed up. "Uh… where's what?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, dumbass!" Ed exclaimed. "Hand it over!"

The blond shinobi held his hands up in a defensive pose. "I'm sorry guys, but I don't even know what the Philosopher's Stone is."

"That's a load of bull!" Ed shouted. "Hand it over now, and we won't have to get rough with you!"

BAM!

Ed was now sprawled out on the ground, his head bleeding. Winry stood in front of Naruto, holding a partially bloody wrench and bowing apologetically. "I'm really sorry about that. Ed tends to get excited."

"That's… okay," Naruto said as he made a mental note to never piss off one Winry Rockbell. "So, what's the Philosopher's Stone?"

"It's an item used for alchemy," Al explained. "With it, you can completely ignore the Law of Equivalent Exchange and create things out of nothing. We thought that you might have it, because you created all of these solid copies of yourself." Al motioned to the clones.

"Oh," Naruto said, still not quite getting it. "Well, sorry, but these clones were all created from my own chakra, not some magic rock." He dispelled all the clones as Ed sat back up.

"The Philosopher's Stone isn't magic, genius," he said indignantly. "And what's chakra?"

"Hmm?" Naruto thought about that for about a minute. "Well, I don't really know how to explain it. It's basically like life energy or something. You take your own physical energies, and mix them in with spiritual energies. That creates chakra, which you can use for different things, like the Shadow Clone Jutsu that I just did."

"Huh." Ed nodded. He didn't really understand, but it sounded interesting. It sounded like it worked in a way similar to alchemy, except it took internal energy rather than outside sources. "So, what else can you do with it?"

Naruto smirked mischievously. "I'm glad you asked!" He went through three hand signs and then said, "Transform!" He was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. The cloud soon dissipated, revealing a second Edward Elric.

"What the?" Ed said in awe.

The second Edward smirked and said, "Pretty cool, huh? It's called the Transformation Jutsu. It can be used to take on just about any form you can think of!"

"Can you teach us to do that?" Al inquired, highly intrigued in the probability.

Ed 2 frowned and crossed him, then poofed back into the form of Naruto Uzumaki. "Sorry, guys, but I'm not really the type who can teach others. Besides, I don't really know how it works. I just kinda do it. And besides that, it takes months, sometimes even years of training to really get it down."

"Oh," Al said in a disappointed voice.

Naruto cocked his head at the armored boy. "I've been wondering about something." The Elrics and Winry looked at Naruto curiously. "Why does Al where all that armor all the time? For that matter, if he's the younger brother then shouldn't he be shorter than Ed?"

The Amestrian trio suddenly began sweating bullets. "Er…" Ed said, trying to think of an excuse.

"Ed and I…" Al said, also trying to think of a solution.

"They were in a terrible accident," Winry stepped in. "Ed lost his arm and leg, and Al lost nearly his whole body." It wasn't a total lie, and it wasn't the whole truth. Ed and Al looked to her gratefully, and she gave them a kind smile in return.

"Oh, I get it," Naruto said, making an "o" with his mouth. "So, that's like a full-body automail?"

"Er, yeah," Al replied. There was an awkward silence for several seconds. Nobody really looked like they even wanted to say anything.

"So, this Philosopher's Stone," Naruto suddenly said. "You guys are looking for it?"

"Yeah," Ed confirmed with a nod. "We're hoping that it'll be able to restore our bodies back to normal." Naruto cocked his head to the side, then looked down at his automail arm.

"Hey, do you think I could tag along on your search?" he asked suddenly.

"What?" Ed looked at the other blond. He thought about for a few seconds. "I don't know. How do we know that we can trust you?"

"If I were a threat, you'd probably be dead by now," Naruto deadpanned.

Winry chuckled a little nervously. "He does make a good point, Ed."

The elder Elric brother sighed and said, "Fine, you can come along. Just don't do anything stupid."

"All right!" Naruto shouted optimistically. "Now, where do we go from here?"

-o-

Tsunade and Jiraiya stared wide-eyed at the young woman named Wander. She had just explained what her brother's ultimate plot was about. Neither could believe what they had just heard.

"This Serenitas," Jiraiya said, a serious look in his eyes. "He's insane. Countless innocent lives will be lost. Doesn't he realize that?"

Wander nodded grimly. "He does. He believes that it will be worth the sacrifice."

Tsunade held a look of contempt on her face. "He has to be stopped before it's too late. Do you know where he is now?" Wander shook her head sadly. "Damn," the Fifth Hokage muttered under her breath. "Do you at least know of a way for us to get to Naruto?"

"Yes," Wander answered, "but once the portal is open, it will only remain so for a few minutes. I suggest picking the best team possible for this responsibility. The world where Naruto is now is in much strife. It is ruled in secret by a man who calls himself 'Father.' Only the best and most familiar of your shinobi."

"Why familiar?" Jiraiya inquired.

"It is very likely that Naruto's memory has become shot," Wander explained calmly. "He may only trust those that he most easily recognizes." Tsunade and Jiraiya nodded at that, and Wander nodded back. "I shall go and prepare to open the portal. Take your time choosing the proper team, but remember that time is short." With that, Wander left them to select the shinobi that would go to find Naruto.

As she walked down the hall of the Hokage tower, she became lost in thought. Serenitas had become dark and twisted. He had to be stopped. She knew this better than anyone. But still…

Serenitas, she thought sorrowfully as she exited the building. What happened to you?